The Hays County Tax Office issued incorrect property tax statements to more than 3,000 accounts in the Wimberley area last week. The office has already issued and mailed corrected statements.
According to Hays County officials, some of the physical copies of property tax statements mailed to some Wimberley homestead properties were sent with the incorrect tax ceiling data for Wimberley Independent School District.
“For the 3,023 accounts impacted, those who have already paid the incorrect amount will receive a refund ,” said Jenifer O’Kane, PCC, Tax Assessor-Collector. “The county clarified that overpaid funds will not be held in escrow but will be refunded directly to the property owners.”
Last week, a Wimberley View reader reported that they’d received an incorrect property tax statement in the mail.
“Yesterday I received the 2024 Hays County Property Tax Statement for my home. The amount was about 25% higher than last year which made me wonder if the county might have missed the various credits that are applicable to my property. So, I went to the Hays County Assessor’s web page to check the credits and discovered that the amount due on the web site was about $1,000 lower than what was stated on the statement I received,” said Min Johnson.
The Hays County Tax Assessor website had already issued an alert in red that said, “Last week a select number of statements for Homestead properties within the Wimberley area were mailed with incorrect tax ceiling data for the ISD. We are working now to generate and mail supplemental statements.”
O’Kane confirmed that some bills were mailed out with incorrect totals, the error made by a contracted service hired to process the statements.
“Corrected bills were put in the mail on Tuesday, December 4, so homeowners will likely get them the next day,” she said. “There weren’t many people who paid the incorrect amount early, but if they did, they will receive an automatic refund in the form of a check mailed to them.”
O’Kane also said, “If people paid their tax bills online, they paid the correct amount.”
Notices about the errors were posted on the Hays County Tax Assessor - Collector website, the Hays County Texas Official Facebook page, and on Jenifer O’Kane’s Facebook page.
Any correspondence by mail to the Hays County Tax Assessor - Collector, Jenifer O’Kane, PCC, must be addressed to 712 S. Stagecoach Trail, Suite 1120, San Marcos, Texas, 78666. They can be reached by telephone at 512-393-5545.
